"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

OK, Peach, just for all you do. Here is the number of countries for each season as best I can determine it (Corsica/France counts as 1, Sicily/Italy counts as 1, Hong Kong/China counts as 1 and Macau/China counts as 1, U.S. does not count at all, even in AR8):

My numbers differ quite a bit from yours. Does yours only include Pit Stops?

TAR1: Should we count South Africa as visited? Teams made their way by land from one airport to another in Johannesburg. This would make the total 8 countries.TAR3: Teams travelled from Portugal through Spain to get to the ferry to Morocco. I make it 11 countries. TAR7: Puerto Rico is a territory of the USA, so I make this season only 9 countries.TAR10: flamant is right, there were indeed 12 countries.TAR11: Zanzibar is a Tanzanian territory, Hong Kong & Macau are both Chinese and Guam is a territory of the USA. Therefore I make this season 8 countries.

Dom El,It is obvious that I made different assumptions and you have done a good job of highlighting them. Transit points where no tasks take place do NOT count in my scheme of things. Therefore,1. AR1 - South Africa is ignored2. AR3 - Spain is ignored3. Puerto Rico is indeed a territory of the U.S. and so is Guam, but I consider both of them as distinct countries for the purpose of counting.

However, Zanzibar Island is definitely part of Tanzania, but I assumed that in my count. According to my rules of counting 9 is still correct for AR11.

The show's general rule seems to be that a country must be mentioned in a clue for it to count. (The only exceptions to this are the times identifying the country is part of the puzzle, ie. the Tunisia and Malaysia flags and the "what country is this major African capital city in?" tasks with Ouagadougou and Accra, and the starting countries themselves.)

The official tally, with notes where needed:TAR1 - 9. Includes South Africa, excludes Botswana and the Vatican (from unused tasks), and the quick zipline across to the Zimbabwe side of Batoka Gorge for the canyon swing.TAR2 - 8. Excludes Argentina, where the island used for Leg 2's Road Block technically is.TAR3 - 13. Includes Spain, Austria, and Malaysia (despite the winners skipping Austria entirely), and counts England and Scotland separately.TAR4 - 9.TAR5 - 12. Includes Kenya, despite only being used as a connecting airport.TAR6 - 11. Treats Corsica and France as one country.TAR7 - 10. Treats Puerto Rico as part of the United States (despite casting not doing so).TAR8 - 4.TAR9 - 10. Treats Sicily and Italy as one country.TAR10 - 13.TAR11 - 10. Counts Zanzibar as part of Tanzania, the SARs as part of China, and Guam as part of the US.TAR12 - 10.TAR13 - 8.TAR14 - 9. Includes Germany but excludes Italy, which seven out of eleven teams (but not the winners) travel through during Leg 1.TAR15 - 9.TAR16 - 9. Excludes Belgium and possibly Luxembourg, which the Portable Pit Stop bus apparently travelled through on its way from Hamburg to Champagne.TAR17 - 10.TAR18 - 9.TAR19 - 8, assuming no non-spoiled countries turn up between now and the end of the season.

Found the 10 episode title quote! "Release the Brake! (Brussels, Belgium)

Thanks! LoveRocked found it too.

Logged

"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

I suppose this is the best place to discuss this now that we're no longer "pre-race", but from the pre-race spec thread way back in May:

Quote

I could see them doing a leg in southern Africa. Maybe not South Africa specifically, but since it's only the northern countries that are affected at the moment it's very plausible South Africa or Namibia or Malawi or something could turn up.

If they do go to South America, I'd hope for Paraguay (the only non-Caribbean-bordering country still yet to appear), but with Brazil in TAR18 I think Argentina's most likely.

Europe? Hmmm. PIIGS are out since the governments won't spend money bringing the show to them, and we've seen most of the remaining western Europe countries in the past four seasons (by my count only Belgium, Denmark, and the micronations are left), so I'd expect an eastern European country, if any. Probably a new one, since no eastern European countries have been repeated yet (assuming you count Austria as "western"), and hopefully a Balkan state. Serbia's plausible, as is Albania, or maybe even Bulgaria.

Asia's harder. Since Family Edition, either China or Japan has been done in every race except 13, but 18 was the first to have them both, so maybe we might skip them this time? But it's hard to find any regions they haven't hit recently. Kazakhstan was apparently a real pain the first time, so I don't think we're going back or to any other country nearby (all with even worse infrastructure, and some not safe for women in particular). The Middle East is especially Not Safe Right Now, and we've done India and the neighbouring countries twice in the past two seasons, so they're most likely out. South-East Asia's a mainstay, but aside from three new countries (Indonesia, Laos, and Brunei), they've all been done in the past 5 seasons.

In summary, I suspect we'll get about 8 or 9 countries, probably containing at least one Central/South American country (probably Argentina and one other); South Africa (and possibly a country nearby); at least one country that was part of Yugoslavia; at least one of Thailand/Indonesia/Laos/Philippines, probably two; and a North American country.

So, that's Malawi correct, a North/Central American country correct (Panama), Thailand and Indonesia correct, skipping both China and India correct, AND Argentina and Paraguay kind-of correct for TAR20. Is there a "TAR Detective"-like handle available for amazing spec?

I suppose this is the best place to discuss this now that we're no longer "pre-race", but from the pre-race spec thread way back in May:

Quote

I could see them doing a leg in southern Africa. Maybe not South Africa specifically, but since it's only the northern countries that are affected at the moment it's very plausible South Africa or Namibia or Malawi or something could turn up.

If they do go to South America, I'd hope for Paraguay (the only non-Caribbean-bordering country still yet to appear), but with Brazil in TAR18 I think Argentina's most likely.

Europe? Hmmm. PIIGS are out since the governments won't spend money bringing the show to them, and we've seen most of the remaining western Europe countries in the past four seasons (by my count only Belgium, Denmark, and the micronations are left), so I'd expect an eastern European country, if any. Probably a new one, since no eastern European countries have been repeated yet (assuming you count Austria as "western"), and hopefully a Balkan state. Serbia's plausible, as is Albania, or maybe even Bulgaria.

Asia's harder. Since Family Edition, either China or Japan has been done in every race except 13, but 18 was the first to have them both, so maybe we might skip them this time? But it's hard to find any regions they haven't hit recently. Kazakhstan was apparently a real pain the first time, so I don't think we're going back or to any other country nearby (all with even worse infrastructure, and some not safe for women in particular). The Middle East is especially Not Safe Right Now, and we've done India and the neighbouring countries twice in the past two seasons, so they're most likely out. South-East Asia's a mainstay, but aside from three new countries (Indonesia, Laos, and Brunei), they've all been done in the past 5 seasons.

In summary, I suspect we'll get about 8 or 9 countries, probably containing at least one Central/South American country (probably Argentina and one other); South Africa (and possibly a country nearby); at least one country that was part of Yugoslavia; at least one of Thailand/Indonesia/Laos/Philippines, probably two; and a North American country.

So, that's Malawi correct, a North/Central American country correct (Panama), Thailand and Indonesia correct, skipping both China and India correct, AND Argentina and Paraguay kind-of correct for TAR20. Is there a "TAR Detective"-like handle available for amazing spec?

tarflyonthewall,It's really better for a third party to grade your performance on your AR19 predictions. So I volunteer the following, taking into account the difficulty of your prediction coming true as well:

South Africa/Namibia/Malawi +

Paraguay/Brazil 0

Belgium/Denmark + a particularly difficult prediction; you didn't predict both but you get extra credit

Eastern Europe 0 a bold prediction that did not come true

No China or Japan +

No India or Middle East +

some of Thailand/Indonesia/Laos/Philippines + actually 4 legs in 2 of those countries so you get extra credit

Central/South America, probably Argentina + that's a huge area, so this is not a high risk prediction

North America (which of course overlaps with Central America) + but can you claim credit twice?

If we look at the actual route, you did not mention Taiwan and did not mention Panama specifically, but you did predict all other countries on the AR19 route. That makes it an extraordinary prediction. I give you an A+.